Urban Partnerships, Havas and Braintree team up to launch Buzzbike

Urban Partnerships, a division of experiential agency MKTG, has teamed up with Havas Media to facilitate the partnership between cycle scheme Buzzbike and online payments company Braintree.

Urban Partnerships, Havas Media and Braintree launch Buzzbike

Buzzbike is a new cycling scheme for London which enables users to ride 24/7, free of charge. The bike is high quality and single speed, and rewards riders through an app connected to their bike for riding regularly and parking the bike on the street during the day.

The cycling scheme is brand powered, and different brands can support the scheme by adding their logos to the bikes in localised, targeted areas. The branded app also helps riders engage with brands, as it offers a direct access to the customer. Brands can also use the app to gain insight into riders’ usage behaviour through data that is collected as riders travel around town.

Braintree will sponsor an initial launch of 200 bikes. The campaign - entitled 'Tour de Tech' - aims to target the London tech and start-up community by honing in on their love of cycling.

Havas Media conducted a 'Meaningful Brands' study and found that a focus on providing social benefit, as well as making lives easier and healthier, rewards a brand with higher levels of engagement and trust.

Christopher Nicola, head of urban partnerships, said: "The Buzzbike scheme enables us to gain insight into cyclists’ behavioural patterns, which will provide brand partners with valuable consumer data. In turn we can also use this data to better plan DOOH media and create hyper-targeted, interactive and responsive campaigns."

Russell Pirie, managing partner at Havas Media, added: "Over the next six months we hope to learn a lot about the behaviours of developers, entrepreneurs and individuals within the start-up organisations that make up a large proportion of this progressive community. Not only does the scheme help mobilise workersfrom the tech community in a new and exciting way, it also provides Braintree with a platform to engage in conversation with a very specific audience and help provide a service that is of significant value to their unique way of life."

The scheme hopes to expand the number of bikes to 1,500 by spring 2017, and maintains a goal of 6,000 bikes over the next five years,